The tension in the castle was palpable. Everyone was watching each other. So were we. Then two things happened simultaneously ... someone in the Baroness's bedroom spoke and the pupils of the young spectators in the room grew as large as could be. All eyes were now on her. Her story, her fairy tale came to life.

During the first "Fairy Tales of the Hair," eight years ago already, the Baroness appeared to have been sleeping poorly for nights because of a pea hidden under her mattress. The 'mirror on the wall' in yet another bedroom pointed out time and again the wrong person as 'the most beautiful in the land'. The housekeeper had dangerously pricked herself on the big spinning wheel, and in the Ballroom the cleaning maid dreamed of a big party with dancing princes and princesses. And whoever entered the kitchen met the jolly cook who was baking the most delicious cakes for a sick grandmother somewhere deep in the woods.

Downtown Abbey

A few months earlier, we were asked to "come up with an extra experience" for the Christmas vacations. Back then, millions of viewers were glued to the tube every week for the episodes of the popular television series Downtown Abbey. So did we. The occupation history of Castle de Haar had many similarities with the developments from this television series. A rich and noble family, the special life 'upstairs' and 'downstairs', but also the big parties with celebrities. In fact, Castle de Haar is the 'Downtown Abbey' of the Low Countries. What if you added to that the storylines from famous fairy tales...? And so it happened. It formed the basis of a year-long collaboration between the team of Kasteel de Haar and the creative storytellers of Made in Mind.

The first script became an imaginative combination of fiction and non-fiction. A family saga about barons and baronesses, strange foreign guests and a somewhat clumsy castle staff. Pour in some unctuous intrigue, a dose of secrecy and last but not least a surprising ending and you have all the ingredients for a castle blockbuster.

Nothing is what it seems at the Fairy Tales of The Hair

Just like in fairy tales, things are often not what they seem at first glance. Therefore, the young visitors were asked for advice by the fairy tale characters in finding solutions. Through all the stories and certainly also the play of the enthusiastic actors and actresses, the "Fairy Tales of the Haar" grew into an annual tribute to fantasy. Exactly what the original noble castle dwellers were also so fond of, as evidenced by the cheerful and undisguised archival photos of their jet-set existence.

Behind the scenes, organizing "fairy tale tours" proved no easy task. Like a military operation, countless groups of visitors were guided through the castle with great precision every hour. From early in the morning until late at night, crowds lined the gates. Everywhere you could hear "miles" of merriment and fun, while the actors and actresses in the various rooms were hurried to perform their scenes in short bursts, up to eight times an hour! At peak times there was even a real traffic jam both outside and inside the castle. In the first year we cautiously counted on three thousand visitors, but in the end it turned out to be more than seven thousand!

In subsequent years, the biggest challenge was to come up with new fairy tales and new characters with appealing storylines each time. After all, you want to surprise visitors every year. After six successful editions, it was time for a new formula. Using a detective booklet, visitors can discover clues at various places in the castle that point to a cheerful and musical final chord; namely, a dazzling castle show.

Hansel & Gretel

As we did seven years ago, we took our inspiration again from England for this. This time, not from a television series, but from the famous pantomime performances staged in London during the Christmas season. Anyone reading the term "pantomime" or "panto" for short might think it is a silent theater performance, but nothing could be further from the truth! Today's pantomime depicts familiar children's stories with a mix of song, dance and hilarious role reversals. It is an age-old theater form and extremely suitable for telling a completed story in a short period of time. For this we work with professional actors and actresses who have also played roles in, for example, the musical Soldier of Orange or with the renowned Opera Zuid. This year's show is based on the world-famous fairy tale of Hansel & Gretel. The scriptwriter has provided the fairy tale with a large dose of humor and topicality. Moreover, well-known sing-along songs have been added and there is a lot of interaction between the audience and the actors. It promises to be a big and hilarious party in an uncommon place, namely the chapel next to the castle that has been converted into a min-theater.

With a still growing number of visitors, we are proud that the "Fairytales of the Haar" has become an annual crowd puller with national appeal. Two weeks a year we imagine ourselves as one big fairy tale family that gets to stay and work in the most beautiful castle in our country. Even after seven years, "De Haar's fairy tales" have demonstrated that, despite all the distractions of our time, with social media, Netflix or Nintendo's switch, discovering, experiencing and experiencing fantasy as a family still brings the most pleasure. That fairy tales exist we don't have to explain anymore. You don't have to do anything for it either, except simply let your own imagination run its course. As far as we are concerned, you can experience that for many years to come at the fairy tales in Castle de Haar!